► All-new EX90 electric SUV tested in UK
► Seven seats and up to 510bhp
► But it costs £100,000
The new Volvo EX90 must win an award for the longest time between a car being revealed and then launched. Yes, it’s been over two years since Volvo first showed its new flagship electric SUV, but FINALLY – FINALLY – the first cars are now in the UK.
The EX90 is Volvo’s electric answer to the combustion XC90, offering practical transport in a clean design and with plenty of safety and tech on board. The downside? It’’s punchily priced, to say the least. Figures start at £96,255 and rise above £100,000 for the time being – for a Volvo! A cheaper rear-wheel-drive-only version comes along later.
Following a first drive in California earlier in the year, now is the first chance to try it back in the UK, but does it work in Britain as well as on polished American highways?
At a glance
Pros: Outstanding refinement, stunning interior, enviable safety performance
Cons: The price, lack of any real buttons is at odds to Volvo’s safety pledges
What’s new?
Everything. It sits on the same platform as the five-seat only Polestar 3 and is the only current Volvo to ride on that set of underpinnings.
All the safety kit on board is bang up to date. Volvo is still making progress with passive safety systems like the airbags and crash structures, constantly evolving the design as more is learnt about car crashes (it has access to data from 50,000 accidents to help on that front).
But active safety is also to the fore, with a new lidar sensor on the car’s roof (the taxi-esque lump that looks bizarre – surely there’s a better way of hiding it?) that can detect objects up to 250m away to make sure the car’s systems react as they should do. For the time being, it’s only processing data but from 2025 it will be turned on to work with the car’s systems. Volvo prefers a combination of sensors and cameras, unlike Tesla which insists that the latter are up to the job. There’s also a two-sensor ‘driver understanding’ system.
All a bit too much nanny state? Possibly, but we rarely found the system to trigger annoyingly. The EX90 certainly bonged a lot less than certain rivals, and Volvo’s own EX30.
What are the specs?
Two power levels are available at launch – a Twin Motor (402bhp, 568lb ft) and Twin Motor Performance (510bhp, 671lb ft). The quicker of the two does 0-62mph in just 4.9 seconds, the slower takes a second longer. Both are capped to 112mph, as is the case with every Volvo. The only visual difference between the two is a tiny ‘Performance’ badge at the rear.
All current EX90s pack a huge 111kWh battery (107kWh usable capacity), one of the largest of any EV sold in Europe. Volvo claims a range of 374 miles for both versions, which is somewhat optimistic as our quite gently test drive around the busy roads of Berkshire and Surrey resulted in an efficiency figure of 2.7mi/kWh, giving it a range of just under 300 miles. It’s equipped with 250kW rapid charging, meaning that even a battery of that size can charge from 10 to 80 per cent in 30 minutes.
The penalty, as ever, is weight. The Volvo weighs 2787kg so seven up, so it’s going to be sailing close to the 3500kg maximum payload for a car in the UK.
How does it drive?
The EX90 is a remarkably zen way of travelling, with almost all wind and road intrusion dispersed. Refinement is truly top drawer, whether it’s sat at 70 on the motorway or pootling around a town. It’s an effortless car to drive, too, with its surround cameras and excellent visibility making it much easier to drive than you’d expect from a car of this width; at more than two metres, you can’t even take it through some width restrictors.
With twin chamber air suspension, the car glides across most tarmac easily. Body control over primary bumps is excellent, with minimal float and effortless flow. The 22-inch wheels are also largely well controlled, although the air suspension did show signs of occasionally losing control of the sheer unsrpung mass at each corner. The ride can occasionally be bumpy over a pothole or several uneven surfaces in quick succession, but generally does a great job of handling its weight.
This is no multi-dimensional car, though. A left-right flick reveals the limits of physics of controlling this much mass, as the body flips from side to side with more roll than would be ideal. Steering feel is entirely absent. The extra 100bhp of the Performance model is entirely surplus to requirements, with the standard Twin Motor feeling more than fast enough.
Does that matter? Not really, as the Volvo is as good as the Kia EV9 and light years better than the Mercedes EQS SUV. It does what it needs to do. And it does that very well.
What’s it like inside?
Largely brilliant, if a bit spec-dependent. Build quality is excellent and the design is, as ever in recent Volvos, calming and oozes Scandinavian flair. But choose your upholstery carefully. Our test car came with a black artificial leather called ‘Nordico’ that did the design no favours; a white or light brown is available and much more interesting. Or if you don’t need to worry about kids smearing chocolate all over the rear seats, go for the wool finish.
Plenty of recycled material is used throughout, with 50kg of recycled plastics and bio-based materials on the interior alone. The interior is similar to that of Volvo’s pint-sized EX30 in the fact it has next to no physical buttons. Want to turn the demister on? That will require touching where you’d normally turn on the interior lights and adjusting the mirrors and even the steering wheel is done through the touchscreen. It all feels a bit at odds with Volvo’s safety message to me.
The screen does at least work very well and it’s mahoosive, with plenty of in-built Google features like its voice service and Maps that work brilliantly well. The EX90’s delayed arrived arrival is mainly down to the significant new software, though both cars driven in the UK were faultless in that respect. Even if Apple CarPlay and Android Auto won’t be available from launch, and will be part of a later over-the-air update.
Every EX90 gets seven seats and it fulfills the job of being an ‘electric XC90’ very well. If you go from one to the other, you won’t be disappointed. Each middle-row seat slides and folds individually and access to the third row is simple enough. Space back there, like on an XC90, is limited for adults, with not much room for heads, shoulders, knees and toes (sorry). Adults will be fine for short journeys, but they’re best reserved for children. A Kia EV9 is the better seven-seater.
The rearmost seats fold electronically and fit flush with the floor. With all seats upright, there’s still a decent-sized boot for a couple of big suitcases, too, and with space beneath the floor for charging cables.
Before you buy (trims and rivals)
At launch, the EX90 looks so expensive because it’s only available in its most powerful guises and in range-topping Ultra trim. Though cheaper versions will follow, the current starting price is a huge £96,255 for the Twin Motor and £100,555 for a Twin Motor Performance. Yes, £100,000 for a Volvo.
One good thing is that there are practically no options available on top of the price, aside from a few accessories, and the spec is tremendous – as you would hope. Bowers & Wilkins’ excellent, 25-speaker sound system is standard, as is front massage seats, power-folding rear seats and a tremendous array of safety kit.
Rivals are few and far between. The Mercedes EQS SUV is tilting at a similar luxury end of the market but with questionable dynamics and looks that leave most cold, the EX90 has it well beaten.
The Kia EV9 is a more interesting proposition. Currently vastly cheaper than the EX90, it also offers better-charging performance and – to my eyes at least – looks better. The Kia is similarly set up for comfort but it lacks the last bit of ride sophistication that you get from the Volvo. But £25,000 less sophistication, I’m not so sure.
Verdict
Is the Volvo EX90 going to transform your life by making every journey hugely exciting and rewarding? No. There are other SUVs that will manage that, albeit without seven seats.
It might be expensive but there are few better ways of getting seven people cleanly around the country: the EX90 is comfortable, refined, practical and stuffed full of enough safety kit to salve any anxious parents’ worries. Even the frustrating touchscreen is showing signs of improvement.